Boat Manufacturer Division (BMD)

NMMA boat manufacturer members, representing more than 85% of boats sold across North America, recognize the value of NMMA Certification for their business and their customers. Promote your NMMA Certified boats through Discover Boating and join other industry stakeholders in support of the association’s efforts to protect and grow recreational boating through public policy advocacy and industry-focused growth initiatives.

Benefits

Member benefits include:

Dues

Boat Manufacturer Division (BMD) dues are based on the total North American marine sales for your company’s most recently completed fiscal year. Click here to view the BMD dues schedule or reference Section II on the NMMA Canada BMD Membership Application.

Eligibility

To join NMMA’s Boat Manufacturer Division (BMD) your business must manufacture or import boats. BMD membership is also contingent on the following:

  1. Completion of the NMMA Certification program within 12 months of joining NMMA. NMMA Certification helps ensure your boats are built to applicable standards set by the American Boats & Yacht Council (ABYC), and promotes their compliance to the public. The annual cost to become certified ranges between $1,500 and $2,000.
  2. Support of the Discover Boating program through the Grow Boating membership fee. This fee is based on the horsepower of engines packaged with your boats and is billed separately.

If your business is based outside North America it must have a certificate of authority from at least one province/state of Canada/United States showing it is legally authorized to conduct business in that province/state, thereby submitting to its jurisdiction. Without such proof, application for NMMA membership will not be considered by any boat manufacturing firm outside North America.  

NMMA Certification

Currently, 85% of all boats sold across North America are produced by NMMA Certified boat manufacturing members. The NMMA Certification helps manufacturers ensure their boats are built to applicable standards set by the American Boats & Yacht Council (ABYC), and to promote their compliance to the consumer. Participating boat manufacturers must submit applications for all models; each model must be physically inspected by an NMMA inspector annually. To achieve Certification, a manufacturer must demonstrate that all variances found during the inspection have been corrected.  Manufacturers of NMMA Certified boats benefit from:

  • Assurance their boats meet the industry standards for Canada (ABYC Standards)
  • A detailed hands-on inspection and verification process
  • Improved consumer confidence
  • Increased brand respect and awareness through Discover Boating
  • Liability protection and product liability insurance discounts

Discover Boating Membership Fees

NMMA members support the Discover Boating program through vision, leadership and financial contributions. The Discover Boating Engine Assessment is the primary funding tool. All NMMA Engine Manufacturer Division members are required to pay this assessment on their marine engines.

Of the 1 million consumers to visit DiscoverBoating.ca in our 2015, 474,000 consumers clicked directly through to manufacturer sites from the Boat Selector section to shop on their own. In many cases DiscoverBoating.ca is the #1 or #2 resource of web traffic to manufacturers sites, which can be measured by your own company's Google Analytics.